Arguments
by redFaust
Summary: Nick and Ellis have an argument but did the conman push it over the edge? Nellis. Reviews welcome


It started off with an argument. _It always did_ Nick mused to himself as he stood almost nose to nose with the young Georgian. The kid's blue eyes were angrily narrowed and his lips tightly pursed.

'Ya know, Nick, yuh a real pain in'a ass,' spat Ellis. 'Ah got ya outta such a mess an' yet this is wha' ah get?'

A leer crossed Nick's face as he towered over the mechanic, taller not by much yet still heightening his own power. 'Maybe if you weren't such a jackass hick then I would be more grateful,' he shot back. 'All I ever get is your irritating Keith stories and your own stupidity.'

Ellis' face turned a deep red and he sucked in a huge breath. 'Don't ya dare say anythin' 'bout Keith!'

'Then why don't you just stick your-'

'Oh Jesus Christ you two,' Rochelle groaned as she took her pick of weapons. 'Not only are we stuck with no gas for the boat, our weapons are limited and your bickering isn't helping. Not shut up, suck it up and grab a gun.'

Turning, Nick casually slid a pistol into his holster and grabbed a sub machine gun. 'Oi, hick,' he snickered, 'you better take a first aid kit just in case you _sneeze right in front of a witch and get mauled again_.'

Cheeks still dusted an embarrassed and angry pink; Ellis grabbed dual pistols and glared at the green eyes conman. 'Only happened once,' he growled.

'Oh really? Because I distinctly recall when-'

A large hand landed on Nick's shoulder and its owner gave an angry sigh.

'Quit it you two,' Coach grumbled. 'Seriously.' Turning away he then chose a baseball bat and headed towards the end of the rough gravel road. His gaze flickered for a second to the swollen grey sky before he rolled his shoulders and gestured with his head to the rest of his teammates.

'Y'all ready?'

Rochelle nodded and hefted her pistol in her palm. 'I'm ready.'

'Me too.'

'An' me,' Ellis said last as he pushed past Nick to stand next to Coach. Rochelle rolled her eyes at the kid's obvious display and sidled over to Nick who was contently checking that his cigarette lighter was still in his suit's pocket. His eyes darkened when he saw it was intact yet covered in zombie blood, guts and he didn't want to know what else. Angrily he shoved it back inside his grimy suit.

'What are you all waiting for?' he snapped.

••••

'Safe house ahead!' called out Rochelle before decapitating two zombies with her axe. Flecks of blood covered her pink shirt as she ran through the wind, every step surrounded with a loud splash from the rapidly growing puddles on the ground.

'Jesus, this rain ain't never gonna stop!' Ellis cried out as he shot down zombies, his fingers never stopping on the trigger of his shotgun. Even in the strong wind and pouring rain, his signature cap was still on his head, plastered on with sweat, grease and all sorts of zombie innards. A small blood stain was visible near his left temple.

The two other survivors fared no better as they ran, soaked, through the sheets of rain. Any sort of fun was gone with their dryness and they all just prayed their firearms continued working. If their weapons failed then they would have no hope.

Coach roared as he swung his baseball bat at a passing female zombie. Her cry was cut off with the meaty impact as skin and muscles flew in all directions from the hit. Flicking off the grey flesh from his hand and the tip of the bat, Coach jogged forward to Rochelle who was at the front of the group.

'Where is it?' he asked, yelling to be heard over the storm.

'Right ahead where the veranda light is!'

'Alright people let's move it,' Coach called back to the two soggy men behind him. 'Ellis, quit mopin' at the back and hurry it up!'

Feet splashing in the deep puddles, the youngest survivor trudged closer to the group, still continuously shooting down zombies. He paused for a second when he saw Nick next to him shooting with his pistols. His eyes went to the conman who pointedly ignored him before turning away.

'C'mon people!' Coach shouted from a building near them. Both men turned their heads to see Rochelle disappearing into a building with a barred red door and Coach standing in the entrance. 'I need y'all in here now!'

Not looking at each other, Nick and Ellis scrambled through the angle deep water and into the building. The Georgian quickly shut the door behind him and leant his forehead against it, panting.

'Yes!' Rochelle called out from a corner. 'There's gas here! Everyone grab a can and let's get back to Virgil.'

Still leaning against the door, Ellis heard as his teammates all grabbed and strapped the gasoline cans to their backs. Turning around and wiping the back of his hand against his forehead, the kid gave his first smile in hours.

'Man,' he began, 'this reminds me of tha' time mah buddy Keith an' I tried tuh camp out inna swamp. Ah mean, tha' doesn't sound hard, right? Well, when we got there there were these bug things that-'

'Shut up, Ellis!' barked Nick, bandaging a blood stained hand. 'Don't you know how to keep that trap of yours shut for a second?'

Feeling hurt, Ellis slumped his shoulders and walked over to grab his own gasoline can. Awkwardly strapping it on he felt Rochelle brush past him and stand in front of Nick with hands on hips.

'Can you give the kid a break?' she said irritated. 'Ever since Virgil saved us you have been acting like a complete ass to Ellis. You're so up yourself.'

Shaking his head, Ellis gently placed a hand on Rochelle's shoulder. 'Thanks but there is nah need tuh protect me, Ro.'

'Protect you?' Nick repeated with a laugh. 'You are such a coward you need a woman to help your ass, overalls. Ever thought of fighting your own battles?'

Ellis felt his face begin to flush. 'Ah know how tuh fight mah own battles, deepshit.'

'Oh really? Give me an example of any time you actually defended yourself?'

Mouth mutely opening and closing like a fish, Ellis tried to find words, to grab a memory of him talking back. But as he thought about it...he never did, did he? Whenever Nick blew at Ellis, Coach or Rochelle would always break it up. He was always the victim that needed another person to be saved by.

As if knowing about the silent conversation in the kid's head, Nick gave a victorious laugh and stood up. Ripping the end of the bandage with his teeth he pushed down on the wound before looking up at Ellis.

'You never could even fight back, hick,' he said quietly, malice in his voice. 'You always needed a backup, a helper. God, how pathetic can you be?'

Fists clenched, Ellis narrowed his eyes. 'Ah ain't pathetic!' he almost yelled.

'Quit trying to convince yourself,' snapped Nick. 'At least try to accept your own failure.'

Coach placed a hand on the younger man's shoulders when he saw the muscles tense and the fists clench together so tight that the knuckles were visible. The young Georgian however shrugged it off and stepped closer to Nick, fuming.

'Quit tryin' tah act like tuh superior one!' he yelled. 'If ya were out there alone then ya would be dead without us. Even ah saved ya more tha' once an' ya can't deny that!'

'I would be a right deal better out there if I was without you!' Nick yelled back. 'You're the one who gets us hurt with your naive way of acting. How many witches have you startled because of your carelessness? How many jockeys rode you because you weren't paying enough attentions? How many times have you stepped into spitter goo?'

The outburst made Ellis stagger back, blue eyes wide and all pride broken. As much as he hated it, but Nick was right. He acted immature, often getting others hurt while they tried to save him. Even now, while they were trying to find gas he had awoken half a dozen witches, probably even the one that had injured Nick on his hand.

Nick's green eyes narrowed into angry slits. 'Even now you can't talk back,' he scoffed before grabbing a shotgun and axe off the wall and moving towards the door. A gust of wind violently ripped the room when he pulled it back, the floor getting wet from the rain in mere seconds.

'Where are you going?' Rochelle asked from the shadows of the corner of the room where she and Coach sat while watching the scene.

'Outside. There is some bullshit here that I don't want to be in the same room with.' And without another word he slammed the door shut behind him, forming a wall between himself and the other survivors.

Dejected and broken, Ellis stared blankly at the floor. He didn't feel Coach rubbing his shoulder affectionately or pay attention to the words of comfort Rochelle offered. He had screwed up big time.

Pushing Rochelle's hands off himself, Ellis grabbed ammo and also headed towards the door. Pausing at the door handle and turned to his two comrades and gave the best smile his strained soul could give.

'Let's not make Virgil wait any longer, aye?'

Clearly not falling for the sudden cheerfulness, Rochelle and Coach gave uncertain nods before following the Georgian into the wild weather outside. The temporary dryness they had gained while on the safe room vanished in the pouring rain within a second. Calling back Nick who still looked angry, the group began trudging through the quickly rising water.

••••

'TANK!' yelled Rochelle from the roof of the burger joint. Desperately she repeatedly shot the grotesquely mutated zombie which acted as if it didn't even feel the bullets penetrate its skin. Roaring it picked up a huge hunk of the roof and sent it flying to the single survivor. With a cry Rochelle ducked as the cement went over her head before crashing down behind her. Pulling herself up, she saw the tank begin to rush at her again.

'Guys, I need some help here!' she screamed over the roar of rain, wind, spitting of bullets, zombie screams and her own beating heart. 'Can someone-'

'I'm here, I'm here,' Nick grunted and he climbed onto the rooftop and sent his own volley of bullets at the special infected. By now, dark red blood was streaming from the ragged wounds on its chest and its roars turned more into ones of pain. When Coach joined in with his AK47, the tank gave a final ripped screech before falling on its knees and tipping over the edge of the roof, dead.

A brief flash of lightning illuminated the sky before thunder cracked around the survivors busily reloading their weapons. By now, they had fought the never-ending hoard for almost a quarter of an hour as they waited for their ship to come. Lighting up the burger joint's sign was a good idea but attracted insane numbers of infected. All prayed their thanks to the large ammo supplies.

An abrupt long honk could suddenly be heard and the three survivors turned their heads to a large shadow coming from the water. Within seconds, the shadow formed into a ship and the familiar French accented voice of Virgil boomed out on a megaphone.

'Bonsoir! Get in, folks!'

Pulling off the cover of a pipe bomb and throwing it far away from the roof, Coach began walking to the edge of the roof.

'C'mon y'all,' he said slightly breathlessly. 'We gotta get outta here!'

'Wait, what about Ellis?' Rochelle suddenly asked, looking around. 'Where is he?'

Coach swore and looked further down the roof where a hole showed the inside of the shop. Even from afar, he could hear the bullets as the young Georgian fought the hoard.

'One of us needs to grab him! Nick, you go get him.'

'What? Nick snapped. 'Oh, hell no am I risking my ass for that hick.'

Rochelle pushed Nick in the abdomen with the butt of her shotgun. Giving him an end-of-discussion glare, she pointedly nodded towards the hole in the roof.

'Get going. We will make Virgil wait.'

With a growl Nick stood up and ran to the hole in the roof, crouching next to it to look down. Inside he saw Ellis single headedly taking out dozens of zombies at once, using both melee and firearms. There was blood dripping down his tattoo and his chest heaved as he swung out at zombies with a blood and gut splattered axe. He paid no attention to Nick.

'Hey, overalls!' Nick called out. 'Quit your shooting and get your ass up here. Virgil came.'

'An' why would ya care?' Ellis called back. 'Las' time ah heard from ya was ya sayin' how useless an' pathetic ah was. Wha's with all this sympathy all of a sudden?'

Nick shook his head, running his ringed fingers through his wet hair. 'Kid, I blew it back there. I mean you do act like a three year old at times but admittedly I went overboard then. Now hurry!'

'Ah don't believe ya!' Stopping and bending almost double for breath, Ellis wiped sweat, rainwater and zombie blood off his face with the collar of his Bull Shifters shirt. Shooting a crawling zombie near his feet, he looked up at Nick with his blue eyes angry.

'How do you want me to prove it?' _Jesus, are those tear stains on his cheeks?_

Ellis looked away, clenching his sticky blood covered hands on his machine gun. 'Ah bet ya only came for me 'cause Ro and Coach made ya. Ya hate me so then ya wouldn't just had come for me.'

'No, Ellis,' Nick sighed. 'If I truly hated you, I wouldn't have come here. I lived my life as a conman, a gambler who always does his own. Would I honestly follow them just like that?'

Thrusting the axe deep into the rotten flesh of a zombie, Ellis shrugged. Nick continued.

'If I hated you then I wouldn't have always come running to save you from a witch or jockey or even a plain infected. I wouldn't have forgiven you for all the accidents you did that got others in pain. Jesus, I wouldn't have given you so much of my pills!'

Ellis shot two more zombies but averted his eyes from the man peering at him from the roof.

'Then why did ya yell at me like that in tuh safe room?'

'Because I was angry, Ellis,' Nick explained. 'I was angry at our situation, at the zombies and, hell, even at the weather! I lost myself that time so come on, Ellis. I won't leave you here. If we go then we go together and as a team.'

Decapitating a zombie Ellis suddenly twirled on his feet and ran out of the burger joint. Just as Nick stood up to see where he went, the wet capped head of the Georgian appeared from the side of the roof as Ellis climbed the ladder. With a small smile Nick went to his side as they both shot some zombies scrambling under the ladder.

Ceasing the fire, Nick looked sideways at the kid. 'Believe me now?'

At first Ellis couldn't meet the green eyes but suddenly he gave himself a shake and launched himself at Nick, burying his face in the other man's shoulder. Feeling the conman lightly encircle his own arms around the boy, Ellis began laughing.

'Why are you laughing?' Nick asked.

'Ah'm gettin' grease all o'er your white suit, Nick,' Ellis laughed and felt the other man's muscles tense up a fraction.

'I hate you, Ellis,' sighed Nick.

'I like you too, Nick.'


End file.
